What is tone?

phantom911 · 01-05-2008, 11:27 PM

I always here people talking about guitars with bad tone.
I know this sounds kinda dumb, but what exactly is tone. And how do you get good tone.

Variant · 01-05-2008, 11:30 PM

The general "sound" that the guitar>amp>effects>mix combination makes. While subjective, go listen to Stone Temple Pilots 'Vaseline' for an example of bad tone and King's X's 'Pillow' for an example of good tone.

guitarplayerone · 01-05-2008, 11:31 PM

Tone is the percieved quality of the what the listener hears when they listen to you.

It is 90% in how you play, but the other ten percent could be due to

Guitar woods
Guitar construction
Pickups
Head
Cab
Speakers
Mike
Production Quality or Venue Acoustics (depending if its live)

etc etc etc. But almost all of it is in your fingers...

Strat God · 01-05-2008, 11:35 PM

REFERENCE: good 'tone' examples................

Stratocaster = SRV tone
PRS = Santana tone
Gibson= Rush, Kiss, GNR
Jackson= Ozzy, RATT,COB
Charvel = Early VH

7 Strings of Hate · 01-05-2008, 11:36 PM

what is tone, baby dont hurt me, no more!!

Shooter · 01-06-2008, 01:22 AM

Technically, a "tone" can be a musical note (such as A natural)

. But yea, what everybody else said is pretty much it- the overall sound you're getting. For instance "That tone is too muddy" means the guitar sounds muffled and bassy while "That tone is too brittle" means that there's so much high end that the guitar makes one's ears bleed.

Jongpil Yun · 01-06-2008, 01:29 AM

I'd say if I had to rank what affects tone in order of importance (not touching the old tone is in the fingers canard), it'd be something like this:

1) Amp
2) Guitar wood
3) Guitar pickups
4) Guitar cab
5) Picking idiosyncrasies like picking closer to the bridge or at a sharper angle, along with the thickness and sharpness of your pick

Jason · 01-06-2008, 01:45 AM

Good tone = Blinky lights and lots of bright flashing led's

Its a known fact.

ohio_eric · 01-06-2008, 01:48 AM

Tone is highly subjective. One player's thick brutality is another's soggy turd. One player's punchy snap is another thin and brittle.

So yeah there's not a lot of rules. The best thing you can do is play a lot of gear and pick what sounds best to you.

Ancestor · 01-06-2008, 02:31 AM

Tone is just basically how your guitar sounds. I watched a guy audition that had a mesa and a music man. His tone was not so good. I couldn't understand it. Great equipment, but bad tone. We dialed out some of his really harsh mids and the tone was suddenly there.

Good equipment helps a lot! Then you just need to dial it in.

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01-05-2008, 11:27 PM	#1 (permalink)
phantom911 ss.org Regular Join Date: May 2007 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 38 Thanked: 0	What is tone? I always here people talking about guitars with bad tone. I know this sounds kinda dumb, but what exactly is tone. And how do you get good tone. i went to a ninja parade, but i didn't see any nijas

01-05-2008, 11:36 PM	#5 (permalink)
7 Strings of Hate Resident Pothead Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: St.Louis USA Posts: 3,142 Real Name: Chris Main Seven: Ibanez S7320+Blackouts Rig: Mesa Rectoverb Head Thanked: 42	what is tone, baby dont hurt me, no more!! Confront and Destroy! -7SoH http://www.myspace.com/7stringsofhate

01-06-2008, 01:22 AM	#6 (permalink)
Shooter Clusterf*ck Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Vallejo,Ca Posts: 163 Real Name: Jeremy Main Seven: Ibanez K-7 Rig: Mesa Triple Recto Thanked: 2	Technically, a "tone" can be a musical note (such as A natural) . But yea, what everybody else said is pretty much it- the overall sound you're getting. For instance "That tone is too muddy" means the guitar sounds muffled and bassy while "That tone is too brittle" means that there's so much high end that the guitar makes one's ears bleed. If you're out there and you're cute, maybe you're beautiful, I just wanna tell you something... there's more of us ugly mther fckers then you are. -Frank Zappa Myspace.com/shooternow

01-06-2008, 01:45 AM	#8 (permalink)
Jason This One's For Your Warden! Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Here and there.. Posts: 9,045 Real Name: Jason Main Seven: Esp/Ltd H207 :D Rig: Nadda Supreme Thanked: 76	Good tone = Blinky lights and lots of bright flashing led's Its a known fact. http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/gea...brand-new.html "I wish TV had a knob so you could turn up the intelligence. The one marked Brightness doesn't work." Gallagher

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01-05-2008, 11:30 PM	#2 (permalink)
Variant Impromptu Observer Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Portland, Oregon Posts: 1,199 Real Name: Ryan Main Seven: Conklin GTBD7 Main ERG: Ibanez RG2228 Rig: Pod XT / Korg G5's Thanked: 16	The general "sound" that the guitar>amp>effects>mix combination makes. While subjective, go listen to Stone Temple Pilots 'Vaseline' for an example of bad tone and King's X's 'Pillow' for an example of good tone.

01-05-2008, 11:31 PM	#3 (permalink)
guitarplayerone Needs NYC prog vox Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: New York Posts: 1,432 Real Name: Roman Main Seven: RG8427F-BX Thanked: 14	Tone is the percieved quality of the what the listener hears when they listen to you. It is 90% in how you play, but the other ten percent could be due to Guitar woods Guitar construction Pickups Head Cab Speakers Mike Production Quality or Venue Acoustics (depending if its live) etc etc etc. But almost all of it is in your fingers...

01-05-2008, 11:35 PM	#4 (permalink)
Strat God ss.org Regular Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 16 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	REFERENCE: good 'tone' examples................ Stratocaster = SRV tone PRS = Santana tone Gibson= Rush, Kiss, GNR Jackson= Ozzy, RATT,COB Charvel = Early VH

01-06-2008, 01:29 AM	#7 (permalink)
Jongpil Yun Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 2,059 Real Name: JP Main Seven: RG 7620 (VK) Thanked: 22	I'd say if I had to rank what affects tone in order of importance (not touching the old tone is in the fingers canard), it'd be something like this: 1) Amp 2) Guitar wood 3) Guitar pickups 4) Guitar cab 5) Picking idiosyncrasies like picking closer to the bridge or at a sharper angle, along with the thickness and sharpness of your pick

01-06-2008, 01:48 AM	#9 (permalink)
ohio_eric He loves you Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Ohio Posts: 7,345 Main Seven: Schecter Jeff Loomis Sig Rig: Boss GT-8 Thanked: 145	Tone is highly subjective. One player's thick brutality is another's soggy turd. One player's punchy snap is another thin and brittle. So yeah there's not a lot of rules. The best thing you can do is play a lot of gear and pick what sounds best to you. The only proof he needed for the existance of God was music. Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Without music, life would be a mistake. Friedrich Nietzsche

01-06-2008, 02:31 AM	#10 (permalink)
Ancestor Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 2,902 Main Seven: Schecter A-7 Thanked: 25 $Ancestor is rather kvlt and tr00. \m/$ $Ancestor is rather kvlt and tr00. \m/$ $Ancestor is rather kvlt and tr00. \m/$ $Ancestor is rather kvlt and tr00. \m/$ $Ancestor is rather kvlt and tr00. \m/$ $Ancestor is rather kvlt and tr00. \m/$ $Ancestor is rather kvlt and tr00. \m/$	Tone is just basically how your guitar sounds. I watched a guy audition that had a mesa and a music man. His tone was not so good. I couldn't understand it. Great equipment, but bad tone. We dialed out some of his really harsh mids and the tone was suddenly there. Good equipment helps a lot! Then you just need to dial it in.

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What is tone?